As I was reading the Picciano (2011) text this week, I thought to myself, "You should have read Chapter 5 before posting about data-driven decision making!" This chapter opened stating data needs to be one piece of the puzzle when making decisions. We also need to carefully consider the effects of our decisions on all involved. For me, compassion is a key here.
Another important point was the value of the data analyst. I have been guilty of not appreciating fully the complicated job data analysts do for our schools. I have tended to dismiss their role as less important that the role of teacher. However, Picciano (2011) shows clearly the multi-faceted role of the data analyst. They perform various functions such as analyzing district statistics to designing reports reflecting student achievement to translating reports to the public sector (Picciano, 2011).
I especially enjoyed reading about the varios types of technology available for instruction. While I was familiar with most of the approaches mentioned, I was pleased to gain knowledge about things such as MUVEs. My own children enjoy SIMS 3, although it is not offered online. I had my first encounter with a MUVE this week when I joined Second Life for EDUC 630. I have had little experience with Second Life this week so my viewpoint is limited, yet I can understand Picciano's (2011) statements concerning pessimistic viewpoints that MUVEs take an exorbitant amount of the users' time. I am eager to see how Second Life works to enhance instruction.
Surprisingly, Picciano mentioned Wikipedia as an acceptable resource for younger children. I have heard many English Language Arts teachers state, and I have stated myself, that Wikipedia is not a reliable source as it can be edited "by anyone." This gave me a fresh perspective on Wikipedia.
Hall (2008) seemed to support keeping everyone on the same page by clearly articulating the technology plan. I liked his ideas about having posters for each person's work station and over-sized posters for common areas. I have seen this done in several districts for emphasis of the district mission. I think it would work well for the technology plan, too.
In addition, Hall (2008) stated technology teams need to remember their purpose is to support teaching and learning. With that said, I believe technology people need to know what is going on in the school or district. A case in point came this week. An email titled "Download Student Grades Weekly" went out this week concerning the loss of student work in one high school course over the weekend. Students had already been assigned to a new course while IT people sought to recover assignments. There was no explanation available as to why it happened, but teachers were reminded of the value of downloading student assignments and encouraged to do this on Fridays. This sounds like a great idea! However, this related more to high school teachers; K - 8 teachers download data on Mondays. This works because our school policy is to give families until Saturday at midnight to finalize weekly attendance and progress information. In addition, we're not really downloading student "work." We're downloading total hours and percentage of lessons completed.
As we lead in our respective areas, we need to make sure we know school policy and what's really going on in our schools. Then we can plan realistically and build a positive reputation for our department. Sometimes, rewording a bit can make all the difference and can put our technology people in a more positive light.
Hall, D. (2008). The technology director's guide to leadership. Washington D.C.: ISTE.
Picciano, A. G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology. 5th ed. New York,
N.Y.: Pearson.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI thought of you as I read data driven decision making because you wrote about databases extensively in one of your posts! You were one step ahead!
I had an administrator that was only willing to talk change if you had data to represent its benefits. The administrator also judged your success in the classroom solely by the performance of your students on standardized test. The administrator said numbers do not lie. I agree and disagree with this perspective because data should drive decisions. I also believe that human compassion plays a role as well. It is important not to let personal opinions overtake common sense and to not allow data to be the only language you speak.
The data analyst position is a critical position to the success of students and teachers. While teachers should and often do take the time to understand their data and use the data they have for their students to drive their classroom, the teachers do not have the time to compare their results to those of their teammates or the previous year’s teachers. Data is complex and involves many variables and an analyst will be able to take the time to consider those variables and produce different reports that can lead to better decisions and offer various perspectives. Our school was required to report on benchmark assessments to the district/administration and all data had to be put in by hand by the teacher, but the data analyst took the time to create an Excel spreadsheet that allowed for color-coding of the data. This made identifying the progress or the lack thereof easier and quicker.
I too recently joined Second Life. I am still working on my avatar for EDUC 630. I look forward to this and I did find in my researching of online communities that ISTE actually does presentations online via Second Life. That is a special treat to this learning environment. One thing that was addressed in one of my classes over the summer was that the Internet can actually let you live an alternative life or personality. I often wonder if the people I meet online are being honest or accurate in their descriptions. I am not online to meet people in person so I am not super concerned with accuracy, but that would be a concern if I was. I have heard of people literally living on Second Life, meaning they spend a great deal of time on there and their virtual life becomes more real to them than their human life. Crazy isn’t it?
I was just as shocked as you at the acceptance of Wikipedia (Picciano, 2011). I will still deter children from using it because it is a wiki that can be edited by any unqualified personnel. I will say the majority of the information I have read on the entries looks legitimate, but you just cannot be sure.
I agree with you pertaining to the posting of the technology plan. We had a plan that we were told to use during one year that I was teaching. The plan was administratively created rather than collaboratively developed and it was not well received. The attitudes of the teachers were not that of acceptance and the posters became a mockery. I am sharing this because Picciano states repeatedly that teachers need to be involved in the development of technology plans (2011) and my story supports one of the reasons why. As a guest to several schools and districts, I find having posters of their mission/vision/plan posted is incredibly informative of their values and purpose. I think that having posters of a well accepted and collaborative plan posted will be beneficial to a school and to the guests of that school.
Great posting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Picciano, A. G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology. 5th ed. New York,
N.Y.: Pearson.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI thought of you as I read data driven decision making because you wrote about databases extensively in one of your previous posts! You were one step ahead!
I had a principal that was only willing to talk change if you had data to represent it. He also judged your success in the classroom solely by the performance of your students on standardized test. He said numbers do not lie. I agree and disagree with this perspective because data should drive decisions. I also believe that human compassion plays a role as well. It is important not to let personal opinions overtake common sense and to not allow data to be the only language you speak.
The data analyst position is a critical position to the success of students and teachers. While teachers should and often do take the time to understand their data and use the data they have for their students to drive their classroom, the teachers do not have the time to compare their results to those of their teammates or the previous year’s teachers. Data is complex and involves many variables and an analyst will be able to take the time to consider those variables, produce different reports that can lead to better decisions and offer various perspectives, and they will serve as the communicator more often to administration and district about the performance. Our school was required to report on benchmark assessments to the district and administration and all data had to be put in by hand by the teacher, but the data analyst took the time to create an Excel spreadsheet that allowed for color-coding of the data which made progress or the lack thereof easier to identify quickly.
I too recently joined Second Life. I am still working on my avatar for EDUC 630. I look forward to meeting via Second LIfe and I did find in my researching of online communities for a previous post that ISTE actually does presentations online via Second Life. That is a special treat to this learning environment. I have heard of people literally living on Second Life, meaning they spend a great deal of time on there and their virtual life becomes more real to them than their human life. Crazy isn’t it?
I was just as shocked as you at the acknowledging of Wikipedia. I will still deter children from using it because it is a wiki that can be edited by unqualified personnel. I will say the majority of the information I have read on the entries looks legitimate, but you just cannot be sure.
I agree with you pertaining to the posting of the technology plan. We had a plan that we were told to use during one year that I was teaching. The plan was administratively created rather than collaboratively developed and it was not well received. The attitudes of the teachers were not that of acceptance and the posters became a mockery. I am sharing this because Picciano states repeatedly that teachers need to be involved in the development of technology plans (2011) and my story supports one of the reasons why. As a guest to several schools and districts, I find having posters of their mission/vision/plan posted is incredibly informative of their values and purpose. I think that having visuals posted that are describing a well accepted and collaborative plan will be beneficial to a school and to the guests of that school.
Great posting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI thought of you as I read data driven decision making because you wrote about databases extensively in one of your posts! You were one step ahead!
I had a principal that was only willing to talk change if you had data to represent it. He also judged your success in the classroom solely by the performance of your students on standardized test. He said numbers do not lie. I agree and disagree with this perspective because data should drive decisions. I also believe that human compassion plays a role as well. It is important not to let personal opinions overtake common sense and to not allow data to be the only language you speak.
The data analyst position is a critical position to the success of students and teachers. While teachers should and often do take the time to understand their data and use the data they have for their students to drive their classroom, the teachers do not have the time to compare their results to those of their teammates or the previous year’s teachers. Data is complex and involves many variables and an analyst will be able to take the time to consider those variables, produce different reports that can lead to better decisions and offer various perspectives, and they will serve as the communicator more often to administration and district about the performance. Our school was required to report on benchmark assessments to the district and administration and all data had to be put in by hand by the teacher, but the data analyst took the time to create an Excel spreadsheet that allowed for color-coding of the data which made progress or the lack thereof easier to identify quickly.
I too recently joined Second Life. I am still working on my avatar for EDUC 630. I look forward to this and I did find in my researching of online communities that ISTE actually does presentations online via Second Life. That is a special treat to this learning environment. I have heard of people literally living on Second Life, meaning they spend a great deal of time on there and their virtual life becomes more real to them than their human life. Crazy isn’t it?
I was just as shocked as you at the acknowledging of Wikipedia. I will still deter children from using it because it is a wiki that can be edited by unqualified personnel. I will say the majority of the information I have read on the entries looks legitimate, but you just cannot be sure.
I agree with you pertaining to the posting of the technology plan. We had a plan that we were told to use during one year that I was teaching. The plan was administratively created rather than collaboratively developed and it was not well received. The attitudes of the teachers were not that of acceptance and the posters became a mockery. I am sharing this because Picciano states repeatedly that teachers need to be involved in the development of technology plans (2011) and my story supports one of the reasons why. As a guest to several schools and districts, I find having posters of their mission/vision/plan posted is incredibly informative of their values and purpose. I think that having visuals displaying a well-accepted and collaborative plan posted will be beneficial to a school and to the guests of that school.
Great posting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI thought of you as I read data driven decision making because you wrote about databases extensively in one of your posts! You were one step ahead!
I had a principal that was only willing to talk change if you had data to represent it. He also judged your success in the classroom solely by the performance of your students on standardized test. He said numbers do not lie. I agree and disagree with this perspective because data should drive decisions. I also believe that human compassion plays a role as well. It is important not to let personal opinions overtake common sense and to not allow data to be the only language you speak.
The data analyst position is a critical position to the success of students and teachers. While teachers should and often do take the time to understand their data and use the data they have for their students to drive their classroom, the teachers do not have the time to compare their results to those of their teammates or the previous year’s teachers. Data is complex and involves many variables and an analyst will be able to take the time to consider those variables, produce different reports that can lead to better decisions and offer various perspectives, and they will serve as the communicator more often to administration and district about the performance. Our school was required to report on benchmark assessments to the district and administration and all data had to be put in by hand by the teacher, but the data analyst took the time to create an Excel spreadsheet that allowed for color-coding of the data which made progress or the lack thereof easier to identify quickly.
I too recently joined Second Life. I am still working on my avatar for EDUC 630. I look forward to this and I did find in my researching of online communities that ISTE actually does presentations online via Second Life. That is a special treat to this learning environment. I have heard of people literally living on Second Life, meaning they spend a great deal of time on there and their virtual life becomes more real to them than their human life. Crazy isn’t it?
I was just as shocked as you at the acknowledging of Wikipedia. I will still deter children from using it because it is a wiki that can be edited by unqualified personnel. I will say the majority of the information I have read on the entries looks legitimate, but you just cannot be sure.
I agree with you pertaining to the posting of the technology plan. We had a plan that we were told to use during one year that I was teaching. The plan was administratively created rather than collaboratively developed and it was not well received. The attitudes of the teachers were not that of acceptance and the posters became a mockery. I am sharing this because Picciano states repeatedly that teachers need to be involved in the development of technology plans (2011) and my story supports one of the reasons why. As a guest to several schools and districts, I find having posters of their mission/vision/plan posted is incredibly informative of their values and purpose. I think that having visuals displaying a well-accepted and collaborative plan posted will be beneficial to a school and to the guests of that school.
Great posting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
For Tiffany - her posts have come to my Inbox several times but are not showing on my blog. I copied and pasted the email here:-)
ReplyDeleteTiffany Warner has left a new comment on your post "EDUC 638 Reflections from This Week's Readings":
Kim,
I thought of you as I read data driven decision making because you wrote about databases extensively in one of your previous posts! You were one step ahead!
I had a principal that was only willing to talk change if you had data to represent it. He also judged your success in the classroom solely by the performance of your students on standardized test. He said numbers do not lie. I agree and disagree with this perspective because data should drive decisions. I also believe that human compassion plays a role as well. It is important not to let personal opinions overtake common sense and to not allow data to be the only language you speak.
The data analyst position is a critical position to the success of students and teachers. While teachers should and often do take the time to understand their data and use the data they have for their students to drive their classroom, the teachers do not have the time to compare their results to those of their teammates or the previous year’s teachers. Data is complex and involves many variables and an analyst will be able to take the time to consider those variables, produce different reports that can lead to better decisions and offer various perspectives, and they will serve as the communicator more often to administration and district about the performance. Our school was required to report on benchmark assessments to the district and administration and all data had to be put in by hand by the teacher, but the data analyst took the time to create an Excel spreadsheet that allowed for color-coding of the data which made progress or the lack thereof easier to identify quickly.
I too recently joined Second Life. I am still working on my avatar for EDUC 630. I look forward to meeting via Second LIfe and I did find in my researching of online communities for a previous post that ISTE actually does presentations online via Second Life. That is a special treat to this learning environment. I have heard of people literally living on Second Life, meaning they spend a great deal of time on there and their virtual life becomes more real to them than their human life. Crazy isn’t it?
I was just as shocked as you at the acknowledging of Wikipedia. I will still deter children from using it because it is a wiki that can be edited by unqualified personnel. I will say the majority of the information I have read on the entries looks legitimate, but you just cannot be sure.
I agree with you pertaining to the posting of the technology plan. We had a plan that we were told to use during one year that I was teaching. The plan was administratively created rather than collaboratively developed and it was not well received. The attitudes of the teachers were not that of acceptance and the posters became a mockery. I am sharing this because Picciano states repeatedly that teachers need to be involved in the development of technology plans (2011) and my story supports one of the reasons why. As a guest to several schools and districts, I find having posters of their mission/vision/plan posted is incredibly informative of their values and purpose. I think that having visuals posted that are describing a well accepted and collaborative plan will be beneficial to a school and to the guests of that school.
Great posting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Posted by Tiffany Warner to Carter's ED Tech at September 11, 2011 7:24 PM
You are right that there should be a greater appreciation for the people who analyze the data. The information may be laid out better then it was before the technology, but someone still has to piece together what it means, and what can be gleaned from it.
ReplyDelete